Perinatal mortality in France stood at 11.2 per 1,000 births in 2024, according to a study published in July 2026 by DREES, the statistics directorate of the French health ministry. The indicator combines babies stillborn from 22 weeks of pregnancy and newborns who die in their first week of life. Stable at around 10.5 per 1,000 between 2014 and 2021, it has risen slightly since 2022.
These figures concern rare situations, but ones that are deeply painful for the families who live through them. Above all, they are used to steer perinatal health policy: identifying risk factors, comparing regions and measuring the effect of care.
What is perinatal mortality?
Perinatal mortality adds together two components. The first is stillbirth, meaning babies born without signs of life from 22 weeks of pregnancy or from 500 grams. The second is early neonatal mortality: babies born alive who die within their first seven days. The total is expressed relative to all births, live or not.
Stillbirths are themselves divided into two groups. Spontaneous fetal deaths occur without medical intervention. Medical terminations of pregnancy, known in France as IMG, are carried out when the baby has a serious condition. The thresholds used vary between countries and organisations: 22 weeks in France, 24 weeks excluding terminations for the European Euro-Peristat network, and 28 weeks for the WHO.
Not to be confused with infant mortality
Infant mortality counts the deaths of babies born alive before their first birthday. It excludes stillbirths. The two indicators overlap during the first week of life but answer different questions. We look at infant mortality in detail in our article on infant mortality in France.
Perinatal mortality: the 2024 figures
- Perinatal mortality of 11.2 per 1,000, or 7,398 deaths out of 661,822 births.
- A stillbirth rate of 9.2 per 1,000, up 0.4 points on 2023. Stillbirths account for 82% of perinatal deaths.
- Of which 5.6 per 1,000 spontaneous fetal deaths and 3.6 per 1,000 medical terminations.
- Early neonatal mortality of 2.0 per 1,000, or 1,304 deaths in the first week of life.
The number of deaths has fallen by 13.5% since 2014, but births have fallen faster still, by 19.3%. It is this gap that pushes the rate up. Almost half of early neonatal deaths occur on the day of birth itself: 46% in 2024, compared with 54% in 2014.
DREES points out that the 2024 data are provisional. The split between stillbirths and neonatal deaths will be consolidated using the year’s death certificates.
Why is perinatal mortality rising?
The study does not point to a single cause. It identifies several factors, none of which on its own explains the recent rise.
Prematurity, the leading risk factor
In 2024, 84% of perinatal deaths involved births before 37 weeks, and half involved births before 28 weeks. The rate reaches 125.7 per 1,000 among premature babies, compared with 2.0 per 1,000 at term. It falls very quickly as gestational age increases: 613 per 1,000 at 24–25 weeks, 198 per 1,000 at 28–31 weeks and 21 per 1,000 at 35–36 weeks.
The growing share of very early births weighs on the indicator. Without it, perinatal mortality would have been 10.7 per 1,000 in 2024 instead of 11.2. For the wider picture on prematurity, see our article on premature birth in France.
Multiple births
Twins and triplets have a perinatal mortality rate of 36.7 per 1,000, almost four times that of single births at 9.7 per 1,000. Their share has nevertheless fallen, from 3.5% of births in 2014 to 3.1% in 2024. This trend tends to pull the indicator down.
Mothers’ age
The risk follows a U-shaped curve. It is lowest between the ages of 30 and 34, at 9.9 per 1,000, and highest at both ends: 18.1 per 1,000 for mothers under 20 and 17.6 per 1,000 for those aged 40 and over. The share of mothers aged 40 and over has risen from 4.2% to 5.6% of births in ten years. According to DREES, however, this ageing explains only a very small part of the rise.
Marked social and regional gaps
In mainland France, perinatal mortality reaches 12.0 per 1,000 in the most deprived municipalities, compared with 9.5 per 1,000 in the most affluent. This gap has widened since 2014. DREES stresses that it would probably be larger if measured at the level of individuals.
France’s overseas departments and regions have a rate of 17.6 per 1,000, around 60% higher than mainland France at 10.8 per 1,000. Over the 2022–2024 period, regional rates range from 9.3 per 1,000 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to 21.0 per 1,000 in Guadeloupe. Île-de-France, the Paris region, is the worst-affected mainland region, at 11.8 per 1,000.
How does France compare with the rest of Europe?
A European comparison requires the same threshold for every country. The Euro-Peristat network counts fetal deaths from 24 weeks, excluding terminations. On this definition, France ranked 16th out of 28 countries in 2019, according to the data cited by DREES. England, Lithuania and the Netherlands had similar levels. Switzerland, Spain, Italy and the Nordic countries did better.
DREES concludes that mothers’ age and inequalities explain only part of the rise. Nor are they enough to explain France’s ranking against comparable countries.
What these figures mean for parents-to-be
A national rate does not predict the risk for any given pregnancy. The vast majority of monitored pregnancies proceed without serious complications. Above all, these data underline the importance of antenatal care, which makes it possible to spot early signs of threatened preterm labour or a twin pregnancy that needs closer monitoring.
They also shed light on the current debate about how maternity units are organised in France. The mission report published in September 2026 sets out proposals on this, which we summarise in our article on the 2026 perinatal care report.
For parents of a baby born very prematurely, follow-up continues long after leaving the neonatal unit. Our article on a premature baby’s corrected age helps you make sense of their developmental milestones.
Limitations of the study
- The data come from hospital stays, which record slightly fewer births than the civil register because home births are not included.
- For a stillborn baby, only the gestational age at delivery is known, not always the date of death in the womb.
- Social gaps are measured at municipality level, not at family level.
- Regional rates are smoothed over three years because of the small numbers involved.
A longitudinal monitoring scheme, Snoopi, launched by DREES in September 2025 with Inserm, the French national institute for health research, and the public health agency Santé publique France, is due to provide more detailed indicators from 2027.
Key points
- Perinatal mortality stood at 11.2 per 1,000 in 2024, rising slightly since 2022.
- Stillbirths account for 82% of it and early neonatal mortality for 18%.
- Very premature birth remains the leading risk factor, ahead of multiple births.
- There are wide gaps between affluent and deprived municipalities, and between mainland France and its overseas territories.
Sources
- DREES, Études et Résultats no. 1378, “La part d'enfants nés sans vie ou décédés au cours des sept premiers jours de vie s'élève à 11 pour 1 000 naissances en 2024”, A. Vilain, J. Fresson, M. Perben, S. Wu, July 2026.
- Euro-Peristat, European Perinatal Health Report 2015-2019, 2022 (cited by DREES).
